Union Graduate College MBA students tour China – Part 2

The following is a blog posting by a Union Graduate College MBA student Greg Jaffe on a 12-day tour of China with Union Graduate College professor Mel Chudzik.

Chudzik has been visiting China since 1991 both as a businessperson and an academic. His current trip started Dec. 4 and includes 12 MBA students.

The trip includes visits to international firms such as GE China, GM, Kodak and others.The group will provide regular updates to the Buzz to chronicle its trip.

You got to be here to understand China
By Greg Jaffe
12.12.10

After a week of intense exposure to the Chinese culture, we found how important food is to the Chinese people, and how integrated it is with business in China. As the lazy-susan spun round, fish soup, jelly…stuff, fish heads, and other mystery dishes came our way, and we all did our best to experience them to the fullest. Soon the time came though, that we needed some balance to our diets, so we treated ourselves to a great Chinese delicacy know throughout as a hot-spot for dating, Pizza Hut. I

t’s so interesting to see how the perception and translation of American fast food restaurants changes overseas. Pizza Hut, which originated in the US as a cheap fast pizza place has translated to a fancy, white marble floor, sit down, classy restaurant with waiter service in China. It was nice to steady our stomachs with some western food, which was just as bad as it is in the US, but the real benefit was experiencing a different interpretation of something we are so familiar with. Without a visit to China one would never think of this aspect as being different across cultures. As many speakers have said, in other contexts of course, but for similar reasons; you have to come here an experience it yourself or else any and all perceptions will be somewhat naïve. China is an amazing place, more like a different world rather than a different country, and a first hand understanding of its differences is needed to fully grasp its value.